Music

TUCSON DESERT DUO . GLACIER.WAV

By Laura Latzko

Frank Anzaldua and Jaime Soto bring a blend of darkwave, shoegaze, synthwave and ’80s ballad sounds

Glacier.Wav combines Jaime Soto’s pop sensibility with Frank Anzaldua’s rock foundation to create something unique. The Tucson duo has kept busy recently, releasing their first album in February. The self-titled Glacier.Wav album is made up of ten tracks that speak on issues such as global warming, life during a pandemic, and the challenges of trying to make it in Tucson as electronic musicians. “Glacier” explores the topic of climate change; “Never Gonna Make It” is about Soto’s experiences as a gay artist; “We Live, part I” by Anzaldua, who is an LGBTQ ally, features spoken word from his cousin Nicolas Anzaldua; and “Vine” is about the push-pull nature of romantic relationships.

“I feel like it’s not as common anymore to write albums like this. It used to be common. If you just think about Purple Rain. Those songs are really different,” Anzaldua says. “It goes from punk to ballad. In that nostalgic vein, not just in particular per song but also for the album as a whole, I wanted to capture that feeling of what albums were like in that era.”

ON MAKING AN ALBUM DURING A PANDEMIC

“I think our process is: Frank makes something beautiful, and he sends it to me, and then I just try to remain really really open to whatever lyrics pop into my head. I think Frank does such a good job of coming up with melodies and musical parts that if I use the track as a guide, I can come up with a vocal melody that follows it,” Soto says. “On my end, my process is to just be open, to not think too hard and to let whatever words come to me as they come to me. For this project especially, I tried not to edit myself too much and say what I had to say.”

Anzaldua says creating an album with such different songs was a satisfying process. “I particularly like this project because I don’t like writing the same song over and over again. It keeps things interesting for me and hopefully translates to the audience.”

Musicians and crew wore masks and socially distanced. They also were tested for Covid-19 prior to shooting. The video captures the feelings of isolation and loneliness experienced during the pandemic, and touches on the social issue of how the pandemic was handled as a health crisis.

“The verses talk more politically about the government and how it just felt like it was another moment where people were allowed to die essentially. It made me think about the AIDS epidemic and things in the past, situations where it feels like the government maybe doesn’t really care about people,” Soto says.

“I tried to write a storyline that could be interpreted symbolically and could be applied to any sort of crisis,” Anzaldua said.

HOW THEY MET

They first met in the early 2000s at a battle of the bands competition at Club Congress. Soto performed as a solo pop artist, and Anzaldua was in electro punk, metal and post rock groups.

They both have a long history in the Tucson music scene but only recently began collaborating on “Glacier.” The file name for the song inspired the name of their group.

They recorded that first song at Anzaldua’s house, with Soto singing in a closet using a mic covered with a sock.

“Being broke for so long and working on music, you get creative,” says Anzaldua, who began playing the guitar and writing songs around age 20. Growing up, he liked underground groups such as Neurosis and Isis.

“I feel like my tastes are pretty eclectic. This project combines ’80-ish electro funk, new jack swing and R&B combined with post rock…some atmospheric elements, some synthwave elements,” Anzuldua says.

Soto, who was part of his school’s orchestra and mariachi programs, would always sing along to music by The Judds , K.T. Oslin, Gwen Stefani and Selena growing up. He first got onstage in a kindergarten show, singing “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush,” and performed a Selena song during an eighth-grade talent show.

“I remember walking out being terrified. I don’t know what came over me. I dropped to my knees. I’m belting this Selena mariachi song. Then, I was the most popular kid in eighth grade for the last two weeks. After that experience, I had to keep doing it.”

WHAT’S NEXT

Anzaldua and Soto had just started to perform together live before the pandemic began.

In February, the two appeared on Freddy Prinze Charming’s and Felicia Minor’s livestreamed podcast “Let’s Have a Fefe.”

They recently started to do shows, when it became safer to perform before crowds: a drive-in show on May 22, then a show at Thunder Canyon Brewery on July 16.

Soto says while he is nervous to start performing again for crowds, he is ready to get back onstage. “I keep picturing it as being a really wild experience. Things will go wrong. Things will go right. That’s the beauty of live performance. Like life, it’s so unpredictable, which is terrifying for me, but it’s really really exciting.”